A few weeks ago while listening to Elder Scott’s talk on Family History I felt it, that spark of desire to learn more about my ancestors. I’ve always held an interest in genealogy and have fond memories of sitting next to my dad as a young woman working on family names. I’ll never forget how I felt when I was baptized for my great great grandmother, and the overhwelming joy I felt when my family met together to perform sealings for several ancestral families in the temple. Tom’s parents have been doing some genealogy lately and in doing so established a “dropbox” folder that is shared amongst them. After Elder Scott’s talk I went on and started browsing the family pictures. When I saw this one, I started crying.

The picture is of Catherine McRae Murchison and her daughter Catherine Murchison (Pettijohn), Tom’s grandmother. A few weeks before seeing this picture we had been with Grandma Pettijohn and I had the opportunity to ask her about her childhood and Mother. She told me of how her mother had moved with her father from Scotland. They had been successful sheepherders there, but soon after they moved the stock market crashed and they lost everything. Her father died when she was young and her mother had supported the family by being a cleaning lady. All of these stories came together to weave a beautiful emotion around this picture. You see Catherine kneeling in unkept grass in front of a house that is in a certain state of disrepair. Vines grow up the windows. Both on both faces are smiles, contentment. 
I felt an immediate unity with this woman, my husband’s great grandmother, but a fellow mother. I felt inspired by her ability to find joy and peace in a life filled with strife and hardship. I was embarrassed by my covetousness. How often I want more. Mostly, I felt the importance of family. 
My dad said once that he belives there is a genealogist in every family. That the Lord makes sure of it so the work goes forward. I’ll never forget the twinkle in my grandmother’s eye, when he told her he thought I was the genealogist in my family. I hope I can live up to her great legacy of genealogy and the legacy of so many other women in my history.